About the Development Account

The objective of the Development Account is to fund capacity development projects in the priority areas of the UN Development Agenda that benefit developing countries. It has since being established by the General Assembly in 1997 supported 204 projects with a total value of $127.6 million.

The Account has been the subject of two comprehensive assessments. The first assessment was undertaken in 2004 and proposed that “the programme is being well managed and is operating in a manner that is fully consistent with its General Assembly-approved directions” (para. 106 of A/59/397). The second assessment in 2007 similarly concluded that “it is evident that the Development Account is largely achieving its aims and purposes as defined by the General Assembly and is producing demonstrable and beneficial results” (para. 55 of A/62/466).

The programming modalities of the Account have also been recognized by the UN Board of Auditors who in their report on the financial statements of the United Nations for the biennium that ended in 31 December 2007 recommended that “the Administration put in place, for all of its technical cooperation activities, a results-measurement mechanism comparable to that required for the projects funded by the Development Account” (para. 89 of A/63/5 (Vol. I)).

 

 

Selected sample stories of successful Development Account projects

Creating a new area of statistics

Disseminating knowledge through the Virtual Institute

Strengthening capacity in environmental statistics